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Wednesday, June28, 2017

The Long & The Short

I've done quite a few "centuries" in the past, and a bunch of back-to-back 4-5 hour ride days, but this was a whole new level of endurance cycling for me. Endurance anything, for that matter. I'm pretty sure I've never ridden as far as we did on Saturday (133 miles), and then we rode nearly the same distance (128 miles) on Sunday (as in the next day!). When I saw that the start for Day 1 was at 10 am, I thought it seemed a bit late, but rough math had us getting to our evening checkpoint and sleep station around 7 or 8 pm. Buuuuuuuut that didn't exactly happen. While the landscape was spectacular,
it did not come without significant elevation gain, dirt roads, and snack (read: meal) breaks. Knowing that we had to basically retrace our steps the next day, we were determined to keep the effort in check on Saturday. We enjoyed some gorgeous countryside and quaint general stores, sunshine.....sunset....fireflies....Luckily, we had a headlight and a taillight....one of each....for all three of us....We put the headlight on the lead bike, the
taillight on the caboose, and hustled as safely as we could through dusk and the early stages of pitch-dark night. Thank the Universe that A) the obstacle we had to surmount due to our blatant disregard for the "detour" signs* came before the sun clocked out, 2) there were VERY few cars on that final stretch of road, and 3) the deer that bound across the road just as we were coming into camp did so ahead of us and
not through us. All great things. Also great: dinner, showers, and bed!

We may or may not have started Day 2 an hour and a half late (and I may or may not have spent close to 45 min trying to choose a snack at a particularly awesome shop), but we DID make the final cut-off. So it counts! We're brevet-ers! BAM!

Day 1, checkpoint 1:

(unexpected) Dirt road:

....that went on for over 3 miles....

Snack break...?

BUUUUUNK BEEEEEDS!

Beautiful lodging location (first seen the next morning):

You think I can ride the whole way with my eyes shut?

The scene of the not-so-brief refuel stop:

And this happened:

His eyes are still closed!!

And then I did a 5k. A synopsis as brief as the event: it was extremely uncomfortable (as anaerobic things are); I kept pace with a giant eagle** for a good half mile; some males don't handle getting "chicked" well; some females don't handle getting "chicked" well; the prize bucket was AWESOME; Happy 4th of July!